


Four Weeks in London

by ChillyHollow



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: Gen, London, Office
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25225267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChillyHollow/pseuds/ChillyHollow
Summary: Robin's moved to London to be with her boyfriend Matthew.  After four weeks, life was settling into a routine.
Relationships: Robin Ellacott/Cormoran Strike
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Four Weeks in London

Robin typed effortlessly, transcribing the report from the taped version into a Word document.She’d had a series of temp jobs since she moved to London to be with her long-time boyfriend Matthew while she hunted for a permanent position.Jobs were a little hard to come by right now, especially jobs that paid what Matthew wanted, but she thought with a little persistence, she’d find something.Meanwhile, she worked for Temporary Solutions, filling in at various offices across London where people were on leave or out sick.Usually the offices were fully of gossiping women and the work was boring.Occasionally there was a man with octopus hands she had to dodge, too, making that week’s job a little more exciting than usual.Luckily jobs with that sort of guy were very few.

Mostly she filed, copied, typed and answered the phone, trying to be cheerful and efficient in each office she briefly worked at.Her weekly paycheck went into their savings account to help pay for a better flat in a nicer part of town, or maybe that Audi that Matthew wanted desperately, despite the expense and effort involved in having a car in London. 

The phone rang and Robin answered, “Good morning, Metropolitan Insurance, Robin speaking.”It was her supervisor at Temporary Solutions, calling to check that Robin had actually arrived this morning and to give her the address for her next assignment for Monday since the current job at the insurance offices was over this afternoon.Robin wrote down 26 Denmark Street and hung up.On her break she’d try and find the street location. 

At 26 Denmark Street, the office where Robin would be working next week, it was silent.There was no one there.

Robin did a search using Google Maps but Denmark Street was difficult to find.Maybe Mapquest would have a better view of the edge of Soho?Everything was small on her phone but she did find Denmark Place which had to be close.Maybe she’d have more luck on her laptop at home tonight.At least she knew she had to get from her flat in Clapham to Tottenham Court Road Station and Temporary Solutions had said the office was close to Centre Point.She’d find it.She would just have to allow some extra time next Monday morning to track down the right address. 

Eventually the work day was over and Robin was able to make her way toward the train.It was crammed with Friday rush hour commuters.She was meeting Matthew near his job to go to dinner with him and some of his co-workers.She was dreading it.Matthew was an accountant and the people he worked with only talked about work and the latest restaurant or clothes.She sometimes wished they would throw in comments about the latest book or play but that never happened.As a temporary worker, she hadn't gotten to know anyone in the various offices she’d been in, so there was no alternative to the regular after work Friday dinner with Matt’s colleagues and friends.Matt said it was a good way to network and of course he’d been to uni with his colleague Tom and Tom's girlfriend Sarah. But Robin always felt a bit out of things when they had dinner with these people.She didn’t know the clients, she’d not been to university in Bath with any of them, she wasn’t an accountant.She was an outsider and they didn’t do anything to make her feel less so.Even Matthew didn’t make her feel more welcome at these dinners.Her job was to be decorative and agreeable.It was just another job, like the temporary clerical ones, and she did it to the best of her ability.

The weekend would be better.They’d spend Saturday morning together doing the shopping and she’d get the laundry and flat cleaning done while Matt was at rugby practice.They’d watch a movie Saturday evening after the dinner she’d planned, which would be roast beef and potatoes.Sunday would be sleeping late, then a nice brunch at one of the local restaurants.Matt wanted to try the fancy Thai restaurant, The Mango Tree, on Sunday evening.Then Monday they would head back to work on an endless cycle of life in London.Eventually Robin would find a job, they would find a better flat, Matthew and she would get married, and she would be the perfect wife and mother.Robin’s life was laid out for her and there would be no more surprises.She didn’t give next week’s temp job a second thought.

The office at 26 Denmark Street was no longer empty.A man paced the inner office, smoking, contemplating ending the relationship that had consumed him for over fifteen years.The last thing on his mind was whether he’d actually cancelled the temporary secretary for next week.

Fate rolled the dice for them and life would never be the same.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the beginning of The Cuckoo's Nest—"She was, in fact, not far off loving the whole of London, which she had not so far warmed to, during the month she had lived there." I started to wonder what Robin thought of London before Matthew proposed and she started working for Strike.


End file.
